by KC Kellersen
“It was alright. Irene took the redhead and I up to the second and third floor to clean. She made me clean the second floor, which was already totally spotless. I spent most of the day just avoiding Irene whenever possible. At break time, she watched us like a hawk! Like one wrong move and we were in for a world of hurt.” She rolled her eyes. She was playing it off, but I could read the fear still lingering there. “How was your day?”
“I spent all day in the kitchen cooking for six people and doing dishes. Irene even interrupted us before break and made us finish the dishes.”
“Wait, six people?” She looked as confused as I had felt earlier.
“Yeah. I tried to get Henry, the cook, to talk about the sixth person but he doesn’t talk unless it’s about cooking. Period.”
“Well damn. Neither of us did any good today. Maybe tomorrow we will get a chance to find out some real information. If Miss Trunchbull doesn’t force me to sit in the choky.”
I burst out laughing so hard I fell off the bed. Another who was interested in humans! Her and I would get along great. I couldn’t have picked a better character to fit Irene!
“Oh, my Goddess! That’s so perfect for her!!” I said still laughing, it eased the ball of nerves in my stomach I didn’t realize was so heavy. If I got to spend the next three weeks with Zetia in the evenings, I might just make it through this. Zetia called goodnight from the door and closed it behind her.
My second day in the castle was almost exactly the same. Breakfast, dishes, lunch, dishes, inhale a snack, dinner, more dishes, shower and head for bed. Zetia met me in the hall and followed me into my room. We talked as I got dressed.
“How did it go with Irene today?”
“Same as yesterday, she spent most of her time with the redhead, who is drawing into herself even more. I tried to talk to her during our break, but she just kept her head down. She is getting the worst end of the stick. Oohh, but I saw the guard again that escorted us here the first day. That man is absolutely gorgeous!”
“You know he is one of the alphas, right?” I watched with humor as her expression popped like a bubble.
She stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. “NO! Oh, come on that’s not fair. He is absolutely yummy and you’re telling me he is a wolf-shifter?”
I laughed at her pout. “Yeah he is off limits…” I noticed that my voice sounded disappointed. I really should not care that he was off limits. I would find my mate once I got my wolf-spirit. What did it matter that one, seriously hot guy, was meant for someone else?
“Well damn, I wish I was human!!” she teased and laughed at my incredulous expression.
We talked a while longer. Having both noticed that Irene liked to belittle people and talk down to them. I felt sorry for Mary, the redhead whose name I finally learned. Mary was not dealing well with the animosity flowing from Irene. At the end of the night, Zetia waved goodbye just as before.
The third day was once again the same, until I returned back to my room. Zetia didn’t meet me in the hall. I was worried about her, so I knocked on her door.
Yes?” Zetia called in a wobbly voice full of fear.
“Zetia, It’s me Alina. Open up,” I called softly. She opened the door slowly. She was already dressed for bed in a tank top and shorts. Her revealing outfit showed off two very large bruises. One on her thigh and one that looked like a handprint on her upper arm. She ushered me inside and closed the door behind me.
“Zetia, what happened to you? Are you alright?” I asked in concern.
“Irene is what happened. Miss T finally got her claws into me!” Anger and fear rolled off her in waves.
“It’s not worth staying here if she is going to treat you this way! Fighting with words is one thing, fighting with fists is another!” I was pissed that Irene would dare handle this sweet girl like this. Zetia had a personality a mile wide but while working she acted just as meek as the other servants.
She sighed in defeat. “I have nowhere else to go. I need the coins for the three weeks work before I can leave. And I don’t want to leave you here alone.”
This really wasn’t my best idea, but I couldn’t just sit here and watch her be abused. I couldn’t stand to watch Irene douse the fire of this spirited woman and turn her into Mary. Plus, I was going to send her anyways, right? Granted, I was hoping for three weeks before I could be sure I trusted her enough with my family’s lives. I took a deep breath and prayed to the Moon Goddess that this worked.
“Yes, you can leave, and you should!” I told Zetia all about the First Village and how to get there. She was going to take Kion from the market stables and leave before first light. This would give her a few extra coins, since Kion wouldn’t be there the whole month. I made sure to add in a few commands about how she would take extra caution, she would go straight to Liam and if she was caught to say nothing of me or the First Village. I knew it was risky, I was trusting my families lives in the hopes that she couldn’t or wouldn’t tell anyone.
The next morning, I woke early. I sent Zetia out the servants entrance. She gave me a brief hug and I felt the tears falling on my shoulder. In three days, her and I bonded. She made it bearable to be here. Watching her risk herself, the same way I was, helped me control my fears. Now that she was leaving, I would be alone. Truly alone.
“Shh... it’s alright Zetia. I will be okay. I will meet you there in a few weeks. I promise.”
She left with a wobbly wave. I watched until she was safely away, I snuck around to the back of the castle. I wanted to get my first letter to Liam sent before I had to be in the kitchen.
I headed towards the forest that surrounded the rear of the castle. It got very dense and was quite dark, even though the sun was already lightening the sky. Once I was a good distance from the castle, I whistled for Zev. I heard his beautiful familiar croak not too far away. I waited a few moments and whistled again. He floated down from the tree top and landed on my shoulder. He rubbed his face against mine and made his strange gurgling noises. It was a quiet but raw sound. I knew it was him being lovey; He missed me as much as I missed him.
“Hey beautiful boy. How do you like being at the castle? Huh?” I asked while giving him scratches and love. Once he was settled, I pulled out the piece of paper and pen from my pocket. I kept the note small so I could tie it onto the leather strap on Zev’s leg. We had used Zev to deliver letters before but never quite this far away.
I’m safe. Incoming girl needs help.
It was simple and to the point. This was my test letter and I prayed Zev got it to Liam quickly. I didn’t want to write Zetia’s name just in case it was intercepted. I rubbed Zev’s neck once more, I reached for him and he hopped onto my hand.
I raised my hand in the air and said, “Home to Liam.”
His black wings flapped as he pushed off. I didn’t watch him fly away as I normally would, I ran back through the forest and headed for the kitchen, not wanting to be late. If Irene was that cruel for no reason, I really didn’t want to give her one.
I came in the servants entrance, my cheeks a little flush. I realized immediately what a bad idea it was to send my letter this morning. Coming in from outside, Irene’s attention was on me. She sent everyone else out on their tasks, ordered Henry to get something from the other kitchen and confronted me.
“Where is Zetia?” she asked calmly, too calmly.
“I don’t know where she is,” I said just as calmly. But the fear was roiling through me, my heart was racing, and my hands were sweating. It was a lie and a painful one; Irene backhanded me in the face. The moment her hand connected with my face I felt the fear lessen. She just gave me physical reason to fear her, but she was just a bully praying on my fear. I would be strong and take this.
I had a mission to complete and I wouldn’t let this fear cripple me. For the safety of my family, Zetia, and hopefully the freedom of the alphas I would take her punishment for whatever slight she imagines I did. No matter if she was right or not. Irene might have pow
er over my body, for now, but I wouldn’t let her control my mind too.
“Don’t lie to me. She was seen leaving the gates this morning! You knew, why else would you be outside?” She accused, only partially accurate. She slapped me again before I could respond; just wanting to take her frustrations out on me, since her abusee had gotten away from her. Either way, there was nothing I could say at this point that would dampen her fire; well I could use the Royal Power but not if I wanted to keep it a secret. I took the hit without fighting back that way. I did, however, scowl at her while holding a hand to my nose. Blood was starting to trickle.
“You will pay for that and you WILL tell me where she went!” Irene was livid. This must be the woman that Mary was dealing with, and then Zetia. But it was me on her radar now. Perhaps, if she kept her focus on me, she would leave the other servants alone.
“I don’t know where she went, so I cannot tell you that,” I said a little nasally. The blood was flowing freely now, making it hard to breath.
“You will be taking her place as maid in the castle, and you will be doing Mary’s work as well. She will take your place in the kitchen.” She stormed out of the room, presumably to get Mary to come back to the kitchen.
As soon as she was out of site, I grabbed a couple napkins and tried to stop the bleeding from my nose. When it stopped, I ran water in one of the sinks and rinsed my face. While the fear was no longer crippling me, it was still present. So, I cleaned the sink afterwards, not wanting to give Irene another reason to freak out at me. I grabbed a mop and cleaned the blood off the floor. Just as I finished Irene came back in, with Mary and Henry in tow. They were instructed to cook breakfast for the castle.
“Leave the mop! You will be doing everything by hand today,” She grabbed me by the arm and towed me from the room.
I was forced to clean most of the castles main floor on my hands and knees. Then I was to do the regular cleaning on the first, second and third floor. Hours later when I finished doing Mary’s and Zetia’s job, I was surprised that it was still quite early. Apparently, Irene was too. She was irritated by my swiftness even with the random physical attacks throughout the day. So, she gave me more work to do.
“Is this more of Mary’s job?” At her look of pleasure, I continued. “Or maybe yours?”
The joy faded, leaving a scowl in place as she backhanded me. Which caused the blood to start dripping from my nose again. As soon as the first drop hit the floor she exploded in fury. Irene made me clean on my hands and knees again, until the floor was spotless. Which was completely pointless as my nose was still bleeding! Every drop that hit was rewarded with a kick to the ribs. By the time the floor was clean, and my nose had stopped bleeding, my whole body were screaming in pain.
“There now the floor is clean, are there any other tasks of yours I can do? Or can I be done for the day… ma’am?” I asked sweetly, like an idiot. She screamed in frustrated anger and stalked towards me. I wasn’t sure why I was poking the bear. I was terrified of her. Maybe I just didn’t want her to know how scared I really was. I took a quick breath and held it, anticipating the blows.
Before she could hit me again, a man called her name from the hallway behind me. When I was sure she was out of the hall, I let the breath out. My shoulders dropped and I wrapped one arm around my middle. My ribs were on fire, my face was swelling, I had lumps on my arms and thighs. I didn’t think anything was broken but pain throbbed with every beat of my heart.
I heard a noise behind me, I spun around quickly. The movement jostled my ribs and I winced in pain but kept my eyes on the door. Irene was not there as expected. Instead three men stood staring at me. Three very gorgeous, dangerous looking men. I knew that these were three of the alphas. The same set of emotions were on all three men’s faces. A mixture of amusement, pride and disgust.
“You are one fierce little Kitten! Standing up to Irene that way,” the redheaded man said handing me a rag.
I took the rag and cleaned up my face. “Was I supposed to just sit back and let her beat me?” I asked dryly.
“Almost all of them do, yes. The question is why didn’t you?” he asked, he looked truly puzzled.
I didn’t have an answer for that that wouldn’t give me away, so I just shrugged.
“I’m Dale. This is Ryan and that is Cord,” he introduced them all. Dale stood out the most, with his red hair. He was not the tallest, probably 6’ 2”, with broad shoulders and lean hips. His hazel green eyes were prominent against his pale freckled skin. Cord was the tallest, and the largest. He stood around 6’ 4” and had rippling large muscles on every inch of his body. He had dark hair and dark brown eyes, everything about him was large. Ryan was much smaller than the rest of them, not even reaching 6’, with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes.
That meant Mr. Dimples himself is Liam’s brother Oliver. Of course! How did I not see the resemblances between them? There were a few slight differences in their coloring, but the similarities were there. Probably because I saw Liam as a brother, I never considered his looks in the sense that he was a man. Oliver on the other hand, well he was a different story. Everything about him I found completely sexy, a term I could never use when describing Liam.
“The future alphas?” I asked bringing myself back to the present. They nodded. “Why are you guys out and about, I thought the Queen kept you guys chained up when not out on her missions?” A guilty and desolate look filled the three men.
“Are you alright? How’s your ribs?” Dale asked ignoring my question. But their look was answer enough. They weren’t being forced to stay in the physical sense. But something definitely was keeping them here. Probably Lillian with her Royal Power.
“I’m fine.” It was a lie and we all knew it.
“Fierce little Kitten,” Ryan murmured. Then added, “Hmmm blonde hair and silver eyes. Interesting mixture. Probably not too common…” his voice drifted away. I felt the confusion on my face. Why comment on my hair and eye color combination? Sure, it’s not very common, but why point it out?
“You don’t think…” Cord said, his voice also drifting away. His eyes were probing my face.
“Oh, I do!” Dale said and the other two lit up.
I had no clue what they were talking about, but fear spiked through me. Perhaps they had seen my parents and were drawing conclusions. Dangerous conclusions. I tried to keep my face blank, but I felt my heart racing. Surely, they could hear it. I waited for the accusations. None came, instead the conversation got even stranger.
“That’s why he was in a mood when we got back,” Cord said.
“Wow, Oliver’s an idiot if he doesn’t take his chance,” Ryan added. The fear dialed down as my confusion rose. What the hell were they talking about?
“What a waste of dimples if he is not going to use them,” Cord said. Use them for what?
“If he doesn’t, I am going to,” Dale replied emphatically.
“Oh… I wouldn’t do that. You’re always chastising Ryan for pressing his buttons, but that would be the biggest button of all,” Cord said with a grin.
Did they forget I was here? They continued bantering back and forth talking about Oliver in vague statements. While I just watched them openly. Curious. Whatever it was that was keeping them here, did not dampen their personalities any. I should leave before Irene comes back, but I was enjoying this too much. After about five minutes of teasing and laughing with each other about Oliver and some bet, I decided they did completely forget I was here.
“Uh…. I hate to interrupt this… lovely banter, but I really should go before Irene comes back.” They were blocking the doorway with their bodies, so I couldn’t just leave.
“Wait, I’m sorry we are being very rude. Are you going to be alright? Do you need someone to look after your injuries?” Dale asked and Cord rolled his eyes. Did Cord not like me? I thought Dale’s offer was sweet and it gave me hope for Ayorlyn if he could openly care. Especially since they thought I was human, a servant human.
&
nbsp; “No, I will be fine. Thank you.” With a long look from each man, they made an opening for me and I took a few steps towards it. Just then Oliver came around the corner and closed the opening they had created for me, I stopped in my tracks. I was closer to all four of them than I was before, too close. I took a few steps backwards
“What’s going on in here?” Oliver growled to the guys, but his eyes were glued to me. Anger was rolling off of him as he inspected me top to bottom. He was quite intimidating, but I didn’t feel afraid. The emotions going through me was definitely not fear. Why was I not afraid of him? I was afraid of damn near everything else, why not him? Especially since he was so angry.
“Irene,” Dale said by way of explanation.
“I got that,” he said harshly. He then softened his tone, “Are you alright little Kitten?” The three guys paled at his question which was weird. It was an innocent question, and they too were calling me the pet name.
“I am fine, and my name is Alina,” I said and he rolled his eyes at me. The guys stood silently, as I had done earlier, but they looked quite pleased. After a few seconds of intense silence, I said “Look, I was just heading back to my room; I don’t want to be here when Irene comes back around.”
He looked at me with doubt. “No need to worry about Irene. Can you walk?”
Probably not well but he didn’t need to know that. The look on his face said he was asking if I needed to be carried. My heart quickened a little at the thought. I wanted to tell him I couldn’t walk, but I also wanted to run from these emotions. The little smirk, showing off his dimples, said he heard the increase and I scowled at him.
Through clenched teeth I said, “I don’t need to be carried and I could walk if you weren’t standing in my way.” It came out a little harsher than I meant to. His eyes were doing weird things to my body and I didn’t understand it. Another emotion I didn’t understand crossed his face before amusement took over.
“Hmm... You are feisty.” His face fell serious and he added, “The Queen and Sarina are headed this way; you probably should go before they get here.” The warning was clear in his eyes.
